Mr Clark
by Kairi-Holmes
Summary: A teenage girl is sent to a foster home after her mom dies and her dad is put into rehab. She finds her foster father strange and wonders what his secret is. In the process, she has to fight the difficulty of staying out of trouble.
1. Introduction

**Introduction **Weird as this may sound the idea of this started with a dream I had. though none of the characters names were in the dream, I would jus picture them and they named themselves.

The dream was like this: my step-cousin Christine had been on a TV show in the 90s about a girl living in a foster home (Sam). The were filming a new episode and somehow I ended up in it (my character was Kat).

Sam lived with another girl in the foster home who never talked and, for some reason, she reminded me of Eponine from Les Miserables. I haven't seen Les Mis but this girl reminded me of how I had always pictured Eponine.. Since Lea Salogna played Eponine in the Les Mis concert, I named this character Lea.

Anyway, Sam pulled me into her room. there were pillows all laid out on the floor. Sam kicked them aside to reveal a hole in the floor. They walked around one part of the hole and came to the stairs. "This is the basement," she said.

She was supposed t be showing Kat around, but they weren't allowed in the basement. Standing at the bottom of the stairs was a mean looking man holding a Siamese cat with grayish fur. Mr. Clark (who, in the show, was played by Ken Page if you don't know him google, wiki, or imdb him).

Next thing I knew, I was in a white room in the house. This was Mr. Clark's store. I felt like I had been in this store in a different dream. My mom, my sister, and I were in the store, because my mom wanted to shop there.

In the dream Ken Page lived in the house the show was filmed in, and really owned the store.

A large room connected to the shop (it looked like a warehouse) where people could go in and buy other things.

Apparently I blacked out during the shopping part. The next thing I remembered was being in the check out line. my mom had a carriage full of stuff. "Wow. We made out pretty good. Huh Sarah?" my mom asked. I was confused. "Uh, yeah," was all I could say.

I noticed some bottles on a shelf behind the counter that read 'Sherlock Holmes' and then something else. "What's that?" I asked my mom. She turned it around. 'Sherlock Holmes Tobacco Scent Remover'. "Oh," I said.

I looked toward the front of the line. Behind the heads of other customers I saw Ken Page, looking way nicer than Mr. Clark.

Then I woke up. That day I came up with a storyline and names for the characters.

Aside from the dream, I got ideas for the book from Angels in the Outfield and my own ideas. And Mr. Clark was crated. By the way, if anyone wants to know I had the dream on the morning of 11/14/07.

Sherlock Holmes Ó Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

The Nightmare Before Christmas Ó Tim Burton

Kingdom Hearts Ó Disney/ Square Enix

All other characters belong to me, I don't have a copyright but please don't steal my characters or ideas. (Those are supposed to be copyright symbols by the way.)


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter One**

"Are you excited Kat?" Felicity asked me. "Not really," I responded. Felicity is my social worker. I had just started foster care and was on my way to my first foster home. My mom recently died. When the coroner did the autopsy he found that she had been taking drugs. They decided to test my dad and found that he had been taking drugs too. He's in rehab and I'm in foster care. My name is Kathrine Robinson, by the way. Most people call me Kat though.

Anyway, Felicity was really excited, because my soon to be foster father had never accepted any other girls Felicity had tried to send him. "What's this guy's name again?" I asked. "His name is Thomas Clark," Felicity said. "He prefers Mr. Clark, though. There are two other girls there, too. Cam and Tia, or something like that."

Luckily, Mr. Clark lived near my hometown, Santa Fe. So I'd still be close to my dad. However, Mr. Clark lived in a suburban area I'd never seen.

All the houses were different in color, but each one story high and designed the same. "I think he lives on this street," Felicity said. "I have his number; I'll call him." Felicity had a Bluetooth piece on her ear, flashing a blue light. She scrolled through her phonebook on her work phone and pressed send. After a few seconds she spoke into the mouthpiece. "Hi, Mr. Clark? This is Felicity James…I'm on my way, but I'm not sure which house is yours….254? Okay. We'll be there in a few seconds. Bye."

We pulled into a driveway of a house like all the others, except for the brown exterior and metal numbers near the doorway reading '254'. I only had two bags which I grabbed from the trunk of Felicity's car. A duffel and a suitcase. Felicity was on the front porch waiting for me.

As I trudged up the steps Felicity rang the doorbell. When I reached the front door, it opened. An African-American man stood in the doorway holding a grayish Siamese cat. Felicity held out her hand. "Hi, Mr. Clark. I'm Felicity James." Mr. Clark only stared at her hand as he growled "Hello Mrs. James." She put her hand back at her side. "This is Kathrine Robinson," she said, pointing to me. "Most people call me Kat," I added. He looked at me, disgusted (maybe because of my unnaturally red hair) and said "Yes, well I won't be on e of those most." "Okay," Felicity said. "Have fun!" She ran to her car, jumped in and drove away. 'At least you can run,' I thought.

I brought my stuff in, and put it down. "Samantha!" Mr. Clark yelled. A girl, about my age, came into the living room. "Yes Mr. Clark?" she asked. "this is Katherine Robinson. Please, show her to your room," Mr. Clark demanded. The girl nodded, picked up my duffel and said "Follow me."

We went down the hall to a room with two beds. One was made neatly, unwrinkled, but with ugly, green bedding. The other had the same bedding, made, but with wrinkles and a frilly pink blanket laid over it, and a matching pillow case. There was a collection of stuffed animals on the bed too. A bit too….cutesy …for me. T

here were two dressers on the other side of the room. One had nothing on top. The other had little trinkets on it. The walls were plain, colorless, and dreary.

The girl put my duffel down near the ugly bed. I put my suitcase down next to it. "Hi," she said, extending her hand toward me. "My name's Sam Mann" I shook her hand responding, "Hey Sam. I'm Kat." Sam let go and said, "I like your hair." "Um….thanks," was all I could say in return. "Do you need any help unpacking?" she asked. "Well, no. Not right now…anyway," I answered. "Want me to show you around?" she asked, eagerly. "Sure," I said.

She jumped up, grabbed my wrist, and pulled me into the hall. She pointed to different parts of the saying, "That's the bathroom, that's the living room, over there's the kitchen. Beyond that is the laundry room and garage. We're home schooled in the garage by Mr. Clark. He set it up like a classroom." There was a closed door in the kitchen. It looked like a closet door or something. "What's in there?" I asked. "That's the basement, but it's off limits. We're never allowed down there." She pointed to another closed door, across the hall from our room. "That's Mr. Clark's room. Though I doubt he's been there in a while. Whenever he's not teaching us or at the store, he's in the basement." "What store?" I asked. "Oh," Sam said. "Mr. Clark owns a convenience store. We have to work there too." Sam pointed to another closed door. "That's Lea's room," Sam said. "Lea's another foster girl here. She's been here for a long time. Longer than me, I don't know how long though. She hides in her room all the time. She barely comes out, other than to go to work or school. Or to the bathroom."

We went back into our room and I sat on the edge of my bed, pulling my stuffed Oogie Boogie out of my duffel. He's my favorite stuffed animal. I've had him for a while. He's my favorite _Nightmare Before Christmas _character. I had even made a clay bead to look like one of his dice. It was the only necklace I ever wore. I laid Oogie down on my pillow.

Sam was laying down on her bed, staring at the ceiling, playing with a locket around her neck. I grabbed my suitcase, taking out some shirts, laying them out on my bed. "Oh," Sam said, jumping up. " I forgot to tell you. The dresser without the stuff on top is yours. You can put your clothes and stuff in there." I grabbed some shirts and put them in one of the drawers.

"Hey…Sam. What's up with the cat?" I asked. "Oh. Shadow, Mr. Clark's cat? He's…weird. He's kind of mean too," Sam said. "Kinda like his owner," I laughed. "Mr. Clark isn't mean!" Sam exclaimed. I gave her the cut-the-act-because-you-can't-pull-that-on-me face. "Okay," she said. "I guess he is mean. I remember Mr. Clark telling me that he named the cat Shadow because, when he first got Shadow, he always followed Mr. Clark around. Mr. Clark just carries him around now. He started carrying him a couple weeks after I came here. I don't blame him. I'm a bit of a klutz." "What'd you do?" I asked. "I …uh…sorta, stepped on his tail," Sam said. I giggled softly.

"Anyway," Sam said. "He doesn't like anybody touching him, you know petting or holding him, except Mr. Clark. He only likes Mr. Clark, and I think Mr. Clark only likes him." I half laughed in response, mumbling "I've only been here for an half an hour and I've figured that out."

I started pulling out jeans and placed them in the drawer. Near my jeans were my favorite action figures that placed on top of my dresser, one by one. The first was an American McGee Alice figure.

The next was an American McGee Cheshire Cat figure, complete with tattoos and a body so thin that you can see his ribs.

Third a Kingdom Hearts II Sora action figure, key blade and all.

Finally, probably my favorite of the four, my Kingdom Hearts II Kairi action figure. She's my favorite character from the game. I had styled my hair after hers.

Sam came up to me, and picked up Alice and Cheshire Cat. "Who are these guys?" she asked, disgustedly. "They're creepy looking." I smiled saying, "They're from American McGee's Alice. You know, like Alice in Wonderland? It's a video game." She put Alice back on the dresser asking, "So if that's Alice, who's this?" She held Cheshire Cat out toward me. I grabbed him and put him back down.

"Cheshire Cat."

"Who's he?" she asked, pointing at Sora. "He's kind of cute!" "Sora, he's the Keyblade Master. From the Kingdom Hearts games. Yes, I'm a gamer girl, and there's nothing wrong with that," I answered.

Sam picked up Kairi, amazed. "Who's she?" Sam marveled. "She looks a lot like you!" "That's Kairi, my favorite," I answered. "She's Sora's best friend. She's one of the Seven Princesses of Heart. Her, Aurora, Jasmine, Belle, Snow White, Cinderella, and Alice. The Disney version of Alice, that is." She sat down on her bed still holding Kairi, staring at her.

I pulled out my PSP charger, and plugged it into an outlet near the dresser. I plugged my PSP into the charger and placed it on the dresser. I then pulled out my iPod dock, put it on the dresser and plugged it in. I put my video nano in and turned on the dock, letting the iPod charge. "Mr. Clark doesn't like us playing music out loud," Sam said, placing Kairi back on the dresser. "Please," I said. "I never play music out loud. I either use my headphones or earbuds." I grabbed some more jeans and other clothes and continued unpacking.


End file.
